White House’s ‘red zone’ report shows decrease in Missouri’s new cases, positivity

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The White House released its latest 'red zone' report for the Show-Me state, showing that Missouri remained in the red zone for cases.

The red zone for new cases indicates 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population. Missouri currently ranks 39th in the country for its new cases.

The Dec. 20 report said Missouri had 361 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people compared to the national average of 462 per 100,000.

Missouri is also in the red zone for positivity, indicating a rate at or above 10.1%. The state currently has the 10th highest rate in the country.

There is some good news for the state, with Missouri seeing a decrease in new cases and test positivity.

Ninety-one percent of all counties in Missouri have moderate or high levels of community transmission with 78% of counties having high levels.

During the week of Dec. 7 to Dec. 13, 34% of nursing homes in the state had at least one new resident COVID-19 case.

Fifty percent had at least one new staff COVID-19 case with 18% seeing a new COVID-19 death.

Between Dec. 12 and Dec. 18, on average, 288 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and another 245 patients with suspected COVID-19 were newly admitted each day to Missouri hospitals.

Hospitals are also still reporting critical staffing shortages.